"Artemis?" Reid came in. His timing seemed to be the opposite of Selina's: Completely inopportune and wholly annoying. "Oh," he said, stopping. "He's awake."
"You." Red snarled, somehow managing to leap up and position himself in front of Artemis. She blinked; stunned that he'd even been able to make himself stand upright. "Stay away from her!" Red wobbled a little bit and Artemis stood, placing a hand on his shoulder before he could do something that would reopen his wounds.
"Oi," she said sharply, stepping in between Red and Reid. Damn, that was going to get confusing. "Stop it before you hurt yourself. I'm not losing you again."
"But it – " Red protested as Artemis forced him down into a chair.
"He," she interrupted, "saved my life. On several occasions. He also helped get you back, so sit down and shut up. You two are going to deal with one another until I get this figured out."
"Get what figured out?" Red asks, practically spitting.
"How do deal with the two of you, since I owe him and I love you, idiot." Artemis said, ruffling Red's hair affectionately. But he didn't stand down. "Fine." Artemis said, conceding. "Reid, you mind giving us a minute?" Artemis's phone buzzed and she brightened marginally. "Ooh, my new outfit's done. Reid…"
"I'll pick it up for you," he said quickly, eager to get out of there.
"Since when were you so pal-y with clones?" Red said, sounding angry and ever-so-slightly hurt.
"Since he saved my life," Artemis replied coolly. "You missed a lot." She smiled a little. "I'm the one who's older than you now. Only by two years, but you know, still, I can drink and you can't."
"Why does your voice sound funny?" Red asked, abruptly changing the subject. Artemis smirked.
"Five years overseas. I spent a lot of time in England. Like I said, you missed a lot." Her eyes darted to his missing arm and her smile vanished.
"Yeah." Red said, his eyes following hers. "I figured that out."
"I'm sorry," Artemis said, biting her lip. "If I had found you sooner…" She had spent so much of her time abroad looking out for herself. Artemis hung her head; she should've been more focused on finding Red. She flinched, feeling his fingers twining through hers.
"Hey," he said gently. "You did find me, and we're together now, so that's all that matters." Artemis looked down, but Red squeezed her hand and she smiled. He was back and he was hers.
Red's recovery was complicated, what with his missing arm, but surprisingly quick. Despite his five-year stint in cyrostasis, he'd lost little muscle mass and was eager to get back in the game. Every day he trained for hours in Artemis's personal gym, while Artemis herself worked on the arm she'd designed for him, or ran jobs for the Light. Sometimes they trained together, but never for long. Red was like Artemis that way: They both needed time alone. But at night, they spent time together, and Artemis filled Red in on what he had missed. Not everything, per se, but more than she'd ever told anyone else. Reid knew enough not to come by the apartment when Red was there, and Selina had been curiously absent lately. Artemis had tried to find her, but Catwoman was a ghost – if she didn't want to be found, no one could find her.
Artemis respected that.
"So you're with the Light now?" Red asked one night between bites of cake. When Artemis had told him that she'd done a semester in culinary school, he'd laughed in her face. Which, of course, made her even more determined to prove that she could cook, and that meant a lot of cake. "Is that where you go? When you leave the apartment at night, I mean."
"Yeah," Artemis said evenly, a little surprised that he'd noticed her late-night escapades. "I'm doubling for the League, though."
"Do they know? Does Oliver know?" Artemis shook her head. "You've got to tell them. They can protect you."
"Nightwing knows. And I can't come forward, not after everything I've done," Artemis replied. "The League has absolutely no reason to trust me, not after I skipped out for five years and then threw my affiliation with the Light in their faces. Besides, for it to be believable, the fewer people who know, the better. Unfortunately, that means if I'm caught by either side again, I'm screwed."
"Wait, hold on. Again? You've been caught?"
"Yeah." Artemis said shortly. "Reid got me out. Not fun." She didn't elaborate. Even months after, Artemis didn't like thinking about it.
"You're going to get yourself killed." Red said, worrying.
"Probably. But everyone dies sometime. But you can be damn sure that if I go down, I'll go down fighting."
"I'd rather you not go down at all." Red said quietly.
Artemis laughed. "Yeah, me too. Dying is not in the grand master plan…" she trailed off, hearing footsteps outside her door, followed by the sound of the door opening. "Hold on a second, will you?" She stood quickly and took out one of her knives.
"Selina?" Artemis said, seeing her friend at the door, casually licking an ice-cream cone.
"The one and only," the thief replied. "I found the kid wandering around."
"And you bought him ice-cream?" Artemis said, eying Jaime stuffing the last of his own cone into his mouth. The kid could eat, that was for sure.
Selina shrugged. "Your rug-rat grew on me."
"Hey!" Jaime protested, wiping his chin. "I'm not her rug-rat!"
"Chico, if you're anyone's rug-rat, you're mine." Artemis said, ruffling his hair. She nodded towards the kitchen and Jaime whooped, helping himself to the contents of her fridge.
"So where have you been?" Artemis asked Selina when Jaime was out of earshot. "You haven't been around in weeks.
"Your little rescue kicked up one hell of a dust cloud. I figured that I should lay low." Selina explained, tossing something small and shiny in Artemis's direction. "But, you know better than most, dropping off the grid when you're a player is a surefire way to get yourself noticed. That's for letting me stay." Artemis peered at the rock in her hand and laughed.
"Diamond theft is laying low?"
"For me," Selina said, matching Artemis's grin. She took the key that Artemis had given her out of her pocket and made as if to give it back. Artemis shook her head.
"Keep it. You're welcome to stay here whenever you need a place to crash." Selina nodded and pocketed the key, as Artemis pocketed the diamond. She wasn't short on cash, but she still remembered being a poor kid from the Narrows. Where her mom still lived. Paula Crock could use a diamond.
"Artemis?" Red said from the doorway, his arms crossed over his conspicuously bare chest. Well, one arm was crossed. Red insisted on continuing to do motions that he used to do with two arms. Muscle memory, habit, stubbornness…Artemis knew that all three played a part. "I thought this place was off the grid."
"It is. She's a friend."
"Damn," Selina said, looking Red up and down. "I can see why you were so eager to get him back." Red glared and Selina laughed. "And he's as moody as you are! It was meant to be. Well, it's been good seeing you, Artemis," she said, backing out of the door with a salute. Artemis grinned. Selina sure knew how to make an exit.
"Nice friend," Red commented drily. Clearly, he didn't like being objectified.
"Also one of the world's most renowned and infamous jewel thieves," Artemis added matter-of-factly. Red groaned.
"That should surprise me, but you having criminal pals…it really doesn't."
"I wouldn't call her a criminal, exactly," Artemis said, smiling. "More of a connoisseur of the moral gray area. Besides, I would've never gotten you back without her."
"Reid?" Jaime mumbled through a mouthful of food. His dark eyes narrowed as he took in Red's half of an arm. "Not Reid. Artemis, get back!" Jaime dropped the food he'd been carrying as blue armor crawled over his body. Within seconds, two sonic cannons were aimed at Red's chest. Red took a fighting stance of his own, whipping a folded crossbow out of his boot and aiming it at Jaime, but Artemis stepped in before either of them could do anything stupid.
"Hey!" she shouted. "Both of you, stand down. Oi, basta, Jaime!" Artemis said when neither put away their weapons. She quickly snatched the crossbow out of Red's hands and disabled it. "And Red, quit stealing my stuff!" Both boys backed off slightly, but neither lost their tension. Artemis had told Jaime to make himself scarce, which he had done, so he didn't know who Red was yet. Oops. Bad planning on her part. "Red, this is Jaime, my protégé. Jaime, this is Red, my boyfriend. He's the one I rescued a few weeks back."
"So he's with you?" Jaime asked.
"I trust him more than anyone, yes." Artemis replied. Red looked at her quickly, before he turned his eyes away. Jaime's amour started to peel away and he looked down sheepishly.
"Sorry, hombre," he said. "Artemis means a lot to me."
"The feeling's mutual." Red agreed. Artemis smiled and fished her phone out of her pocket when she felt it buzz. She scowled at the message.
"Damn," she murmured. "I've gotta go. Work." She looked meaningfully at Red. Jaime knew that she wasn't exactly honest, but he had no idea that she was working with the criminal organization that wanted nothing more than to see each and every Leaguer dead. That would be a little too much information for the kid, especially if he was interrogated by Batman. The less he knew, the safer he was. "I'll make you a deal, though," Artemis said, seeing Jaime's downtrodden look. "I'll meet you after? At your house. We can study for your biology test tomorrow." Jaime grinned. He didn't ask how Artemis knew that he had a biology test; she always knew stuff like that. "Deal?"
"Deal," Jaime said happily.
"You should go see Oliver," Artemis suggested softly when Jaime had gone. "He'll want to know that you're alive. God knows that he's lost enough of us." Artemis knew that he wanted to see Oliver. Red hadn't said anything, but she still knew.
"Yeah," Red said in affirmation. "You be safe, okay?"
"Me?" Artemis laughed. "Safe? Hardly."
"You rang?" Artemis said, decked out in her new uniform. Gone was the leotard and fishnets, to be replaced by a vicious orange and black costume, all armored plating, with a wicked face mask. It was flashy and Artemis loved it. She even switched up her weapon for the role of Tigress, now carrying a katana blade with her, though she always kept her bow and a couple dozen other goodies in her toolbelt. She'd even made a small adjustment to the mask so that when she wore it, her trademark and unmistakably blonde hair looked black. It was a holographic illusion, but worked in her favor.
"Yes," Ra's said, his hands clasped behind his back. "It seems that you are not the only child of one of ours to seek to join our ranks."
"You got a kid, Ra's?" Artemis asked jokingly. Ra's shook his head.
"No. However, I believe that you two may know one another." Artemis turned, hearing the sound of a hanger door opening. Black Manta stepped into the hall, still slightly wet, with someone behind him.
Someone who Artemis recognized immediately, and whose recognition made her feel sick to her stomach, though nothing showed on her face.
"Tigress, I assume that you know our ally Black Manta's son?" Ra's said. "Kaldur'ahm."
I know it has been a long time, and for that, I am truly sorry. I would like to dedicate this to memyshadow: Lovely, were it not for you, I might've abandoned this story altogether.
~Fae
